Thursday, January 25, 2007

The weblog (aka "blog") Music Technology in Education has started a special category of posts called "Copyright or Copywrong?". The posts are in a question answer format and are short but helpful. The first edition answers the question as to whether it is ok for a music department to record a concert and then post the concert on its website. The blogger answers no. Visit the Music Technology in Education blog for the analysis.

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

If you want to use student work as models or examples (or any other purpose), you need to get the student's permission to do so. I often just ask a student via e-mail whether I can use their work and their reply via e-mail serves as my written record of their permission.

You can also do this more formally with a form. Here are some examples from other institutions to give you an idea of how you might want to put such a form together.

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Now, you can find public domain music, images and more using Google. Just click on Advanced Search. Near the bottom of the advanced search box is Usage Rights. You can use the drop down menu next to it to find "free to use or share" and "free to use and modify".

Thursday, January 11, 2007

A decision from the US Copyright Office will make it easier to create compilations from DVD's.On January 5, WebWire reported an exemptions for “Audiovisual works included in the educational library of a college or university’s film or media studies department…for the purpose of making compilations of portions of those works for educational use in the classroom.”

The article also notes new exemptions for copying material in obsolete formats and material requiring equipment that is no longer manufactured.

Tuesday, January 9, 2007

Wondering whether your use is a fair use? While there no substitute for a legal opinion and no absolute black and white answers in fair use, you can certainly perform a relevant balancing test using this handy checklist from Indiana University.

Just go through the list and check the information that best matches your use. When you are done, print out the checklist and save it as a reference if any questions come up about your use in the future.

Also take a moment to read their useful Introduction to Fair Use, linked at the top of the page.

Thursday, January 4, 2007

Do you want to keep up on current copyright news as it relates to fair use and higher education? One easy way (besides checking out our own Copyright Matters blog) is to subscribe to the Stanford Fair Use Newsletter. Just visit http://fairuse.stanford.edu/. The newsletter sign up is on the lower right hand side of the page.

Tuesday, January 2, 2007

Have you created a work that you would like to have copyrighted? Whether it be a print document, music, image, dance - any creative work can be copyrighted. But how do you do it?

The US Copyright Office has a handy website with all the information you need to do all sorts of things related to copyright, including registering your work - http://www.copyright.gov/register/

Got something in mind that isn't quite done yet? Want to collaborate but are afraid your idea might be stolen? Did you know you could pre-register your work? Just click on this handy link - http://www.copyright.gov/register/.